sebastiano's activity

stayed in the hotel sporting right in portovenere it was very nice.

There are a number of these all (presumably) accurate or realistic depending largely to the differing parameters used and by the different organizations who conduct them.On the more man in the street side of things one can say ,yes,Italy is a VERY expensive country.Partly this is due to one of the most inefficient and fragmented distribution systems amongst modern european countries,the enormous number of specialist wholesale fruit and vegetable and meat markets out number say the UK TO 100:1, The fragmented large number and the small size of most of the retail outlets (despite shopping malls ertc) the almost total dependance on expensive road haulage of goods ,topography and other factors make foodstuffs increasingly expensive in Italy all be it that in your local supermarket you are more likely to find good quality even local fruits and vegetables against the intensively farmed long distance stuff in Tesco's.Another important factor which is seldom indicated ( largely due to the conviction that Italians don't pay taxes) is the high levels of both direct and indirect taxation and the very high labour costs which apart from the tax level itself have added the social security contributions cost.The  frequent and vexatory controls to which the majority of hotels/bars/restaurants/shops etc are subjected nowadays.Today anyone with even just a few emplyees has to build in these high costs to whatever service they are offering mean that the prices paid are inevitably higher.On top of all this one has a +34% higher cost for say car insurance than the rest of europe,high bank charges,expensive gas and heating costs costly electricity ( my last electricity bill for a small business was Euro 470,00  for july 2009) the costs of our accountant ( essential for survival in the fiscal jungle) are Euro 720,00 per quarter.the cost of elaboration of data for the wage packets of the employees Euro 207,00 per semester,Euro 600,00 per annum for a private laboratory to undertake quarterly micro biological analysis of our home produced foodstuffs and verify the state of conservation (vis a vis health and safety laws)these are just a few of many other things..sorry this was getting tedious but only wanted to demonstrate the incredibly high costs that small businesses particularly in hospitality or food services that have to be born BEFORE anyone has a plate of pasta.The days of unqualified (mamma's) in the kitchen or the young girl from round the corner in the dining room if not totally gone have their days numbered as  do uninsured working personel, in general so large numbers of "venues" have had to get their act together as never before in the past and the cost of all this is simply passing on to the consumer..... 

Apart from direct debits like electricity,phone etc if you have any people you pay fairly regularly or often obtaining their complete iban number you can ask to pay them directly thru the bank which means you have the record on your computer,it's safe, quick,no remembering to write on the cheque book matrix,this can be very useful for paying builders,geometra's,builders merchants,opticians etc etc. 

since we started using on line banking we don't really use cheques any more which was the idea in the first place as we pay about 90% of stuff thru bank transfer on home banking the remainder we use credit or cash card,however if you still need a cheque book you have to go to the branch who'll issue a new block for which you have to sign they also have to stamp each cheque with your account number.this is ,as far as i'm aware ,the same in all bavnks not just unicredit.

these can be a devastating menace they will remove or disjoint coppi on your roof they're generally looking for nests of small birds to eat them or eggs or both they can cause a lot of problems even worse if they actually get into your roof.unfortunately one can't buy class A poison anymore but class B is freely sold,remove some of the albumin from a normal chicken egg with a syringe and inject into the egg the poison and if you're able to get up to your roof leave a couple of these between the coppi you'll get them .i'm sure this reply will induce the ire of animalists in here but thats what i do .

hi,Adriatica is right....that is what you get..in the south.where my mother in law lives in sicilia between june and september water is OFF most of the time and occasionally ON ,during which time you have to rush to shower or fill containers with water,or shower in the snmall hours of the morning.she lives only 20 k from Catania in a town of around 30.000 so not small.in the past when i've mentioned on this forum about being ONE of the factors to consider before buying living in the south it appeared i was considered predjudiced twards the south but it's like that almost everywhere..south of mason dixon line...

from our own experience's buying and selling in milano etc in towns/cities there is generally more of a market than in more rural areas as italians tend to buy more in towns therefore more competition..  generally,there are fewer people on the ladder of having to sell to buy than you would find in say the uk as a very high proprtion of the country own their own homes.this means often sellers very often are not so much in a fluster to sell and may tend to wait for their asking price.However given the crisis it might be that you could make a good offer.one of the best ways would be to ask around in the immediate vicinity to find going prices wherever this place is.My sister in law has just sold and bought again in northern italy and the variation with respect to her selling and buying was only a difference of around Euro 5.000 on her selling and buying price.good luck.  

i lived in the north of italy from 1975 till 1994,so the best part of twenty years.northern italy is very industrious,people work very hard,it's expensive but that depends where and how you live.if you have a house it's decidedly better because renting is next to impossible especially in the cities.if you have to work and have a good job it can be very rewarding and fulfilling.honestly i've no idea what it's likeif one doesn't work.the boundary between country and city is far less marked then further south and one feels the "influence" of the city much more in the north also because you get factors like commuting, like in the UK.Immigrant population is the highest in thecountry in the northern regions ,which supplies labour but brings with it other social problems so probably personal security is more of an issue.winter can be quite hard again depending where you live, and the summers across the plain of the po valley can be hot and humid.there's lots more i could say but wouldn't want to be tedious

quite frankly you'll require a bank almost immediately if you haven't already got one.as you'll have to be paying out quite a lot of money.personally i've had a pleasant suprise using banks from the credito cooperativo group as opposed to more famous national banks and can there fore recomend your local BCC bank.,they are almost everywhere in abruzzo.as far as insurance is concerned it's a bit early to worry about that (unless you particularly want to insure a ruin against   ...(?)howver once work has been completed and you actually have something to insure repeat the question,as there are lots of choices.